The idiot who painted an El Camino I traded for got the base coat on too thin in a few spots. You can see thru the paint and clear coat down to the primer. Can I sand the clear coat down, shoot some base over the thin spots and then re-clear the car, or is this gonna be a complete do-over? The color is red, if that makes any difference. Thanks.
Hey, If he scrimped on the base coat, what else did he leave out? Giver that it's red in colour, and the costs involved, I'd plan on a reshoot complete of the bb/cc. This way you will avoid further problems, and know just what you have. S****ey Devils C.C. "Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Comp***ion!"
should be able to, depends on what he used for the base coat and what he used for the clear. but thinking they should be compatible. ive done this in the past but it was within a day or two of shooting the paint. pick out an area on the car like the bottom of the rocker and try it there as a test. good luck, Scruffy
If you can figure out what system he used, you should be in the clear. Scuff up the basecoat (make sure the water turns red, thats how you know you're in the base) in the places that are thin. Then prep the rest of the panel for clear, or whatever area you are going to do your blend. Lay out the base where it needs it and on the second coat overlap it outwards. Then clear the panel or your blend area. If you're guessing on the system, you might have some issues.
If it were me I'd sand it down and re seal,base and clear the whole thing. If you do not want to do that you will still need to completely re clear any panel that is affected. To do this I would sand the whole panel with 600 grit and make sure you don't go through the clear and into the base. Reason being if you break through the clear you can have wrinkling and reaction problems when you apply the base over the broken through areas. So sand with 600, rebase, and clear the entire panels.
I'm with Matt on this one. I think I'd try to avoid breaking through the clear coat. 600 grit wet should be fine for base coat to adhere, and you've got a catilyzed clear sealing everything in, so if you don't break through, (be careful sanding on edges and sharp carners), you should have no issues with lifting/edges swelling. If you can get ahold of the exact same base material, and you're not spotting in too many panels, you should be OK. I've done this many times when I didn't like something on a job like mottling or uneven metalic basecoat, but usually within a few days of the original application...If it's all over the place, maybe a complete re-shoot is in order. Hard to say without seeing it...good luck! Eric
Done all the time in collision shops when a repair has to be made to a panel. Should be fine spotting in base where needed and just reclearing the rest of the panel. Thats provided there is enough clear on that its not too thin or are breaking through everywhere. And like others said, your hoping he did the rest of the job correctly and only missed hitting areas with enough material. You may have some problems with those thin areas and going down to base, with the harsh solvents wanting to lift the edge of the broken through-thin clear. May be advisable to hit them with a little epoxy sealer the day prior to avoid a bunch of possible headaches. Or else you may just end up wetsanding out lifting a bunch of time, and dry spraying the base (which can hurt longevity-adhesion) to avoid a lot of solvent thats causing the lifting, until you've built up enough of a barrier coat with the base. I normally sand my repair area with around 600 and the rest of the panel that will only be getting clear with 800. Many manufacturers don't believe in applying much clear to there cars. Here is a small writeup I did on the basics of the process of a basecoat clearcoat repair. I don't think you have to sign up to view the forum? I know the author is poor at humor, and hamb unfriendly cars are mentioned and subject of the thread. http://www.gearheadtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21608
Are you painting tractors for a living?. Single stage is fine for engine bays and floors on a race car but if you want it to look good and hold up well you can't beat the shine and durability of clear coat. Maybe you've just been using cheap, ****ty clear coats.
If your car is based and cleare dyou should use the same basecoat and clear coat so you dont have any chemical reactins like wrinkling. You will have to panel paint if its a fender or door, hood or tailaget. If its the quarters the correct way is to pull the trim and rear bumper and paint the entire back half. If you blend upi the pillars it will pull back and fail. It may take awhile but it will and you can always see a blend no matter how good you are. Some will say ******** but its true.. When you re-base be very careful not to go heavy or you may wrinkle the clear..Id take it back and have the paint applier, notice I didnt say painer becasue a painter wouldnt make that cardinal sin of a holiday in the base....Have him re-do his screw up... if not,sand with 600 wet n dry and repaint it correctly. That ****s but like I say, " In life there are two ways to do things, the right way and again" Good lukc. Call me if you need any help seriously. 702-683-5143 Dave....
How many shops do you think actually know or care what brand of base or what brand of clear is on the car they are repairing? They will just look up and mix the color code on there mixing machine in the brand of base they have and clear with there clearcoat. Spot and blend (so any little color mismatch is unnoticable) in base on the repair area, and clear the panel like they have a thousand times before without problems, with the brand they are familar and happy with. Very doubtfull they would be able to tell what brand was used, and they aren't going to call around asking, no real need to, unless its some exotic color that they are unable to mix or can't match with there base. Most basecoat/ urethane clears seem pretty compatable with one another. If its a singlestage, well then its advisable to panel paint and not do an open blend, and with painting with color right to the panel edge, any mismatch between the new color and old will be fairly easy for the eye to pick up. Any brand can have problems on repair or recoat, if you cut through the clear to base, because the solvents get under the edge of the now thin clear at the edge of the sandthrough and want to lift it. Though activated basecoats do seem to have a bit better repairablity.
If you don't know what you're talking about, don't reply!!! Bad advice is worse than no advice at all. Once dry, brand doesent matter. If the paint is sound and slick, scuff the entire panel with red 3-M scotch brite pads. If there is too much orange peel, sand with 600 or 800 wet. Do not go through the clear! If you do, you may have a problem with the basecoat "cooking" when you respray. Re-spray your seethrough areas, blending outwards. If the problem area is close to an adjacent panel, blend into that panel. Clearcoat entire panels. You cannot blend out clear. There will always be a visible edge. You can take this advice to the bank!!!
Really? Who taught you that? I just blended some clear not more than an hour ago... guess the jokes on me? BTW, if you don't know what you're talking about, don't reply!!
Scratch the area with red 3m scotch pads? do that with a metallic paint an see all the neat patterns you get.
quick question. are the see thru spots all over the entire car? if so, you will probably end up clearing the whole car. wet sand the entire car with 800 grit and gray scratch pad, trying not to brake thru the clear, do your repair paint, making sure you cover the bare spots then blend out the red and reclear. do the same if it's just a panel repair, just sanding, painting and clearing the panel. make sure not to over-reduce your paint because it may lift. you might want to grab the ol' ladies blow dryer and gently heat the repainted area after each coat of paint to avoid lifting of the paint on the clear. if there is a blend , lets say to the sail panel, just make sure you do not clear past your sanded area and then lightly spray your products blending reducer to melt the new clear into the old clear. hope this helps
I'm with Matt on this one too. I would wet sand the panel with 600 being careful to not break through the clear, blend base the affected area, then re-clear the panel. And yes I blend clear also. Lippy
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